The Christmas Spirit� or not

Believe it or not, I just got home from shopping. I left a little before 2 PM, and I didn't get back until now. I'm ready for bed right now, but I'm dedicated to this daily torture known as Holidailies, and I don't intend to miss one damn day, even when I'm sick and exhausted and can't even talk. That's commitment, baby.

Every year I go out to shop in the last few days before Christmas, and every year I end up cursing myself for doing so and making a vow that next year, I'll shop early. So I completed another year of not living up to that vow. In fact, I hardly even started shopping, much less finished. After today, I'm really no closer to the end either. I wandered around store after store, trying to avoid getting shoved and poked in the eye and run over by carts. I couldn't make up my mind on any damn thing for all these kids getting presents from us. The things I did know I wanted couldn't be found in any store in the city.

Hammy came along today, because he had some shopping to do himself. I think he regretted going today as much as I did, if not more. I thought I'd make it worth his while, and we made a pit stop at the theater to see the Harry Potter movie, which was good but less dazzling than I hoped. Even there, in a theater with no more than twenty people in it, we had to get the assholes who decided the row in front of us was the best place to sit. And not only that, the taller of the two decided sitting in front of the eleven-year-old boy was the best place to be. Then they proceeded to snicker and talk through the movie and had the gall to glare at the woman behind us with the curious child asking questions and squealing with glee at the bats. I swear to God, they looked like Team Guido from the Amazing Race too. That's probably why they were such butt plugs.

The movie was probably the highlight of the day, except for spending time with Hammy. We both couldn't seem to find anything we liked as gifts, and I ended up buying household supplies, cat food and a sifter. Real excitement there. Oh, I did get a quarter from the vending machine when I got a bottle of water. That was pretty good. Overall though, I really wish I would have just stayed home, gone to the movie and came home again.

I am not looking forward to finishing out my shopping in the next week. People are not friendly out there. I started off smiling and in a good mood, but that slowly deteriorated. I should know better than to go in Ames and Wal-Mart on the best of days, much less one of the big shopping days. People there are even ruder and more annoying than the snooty mall we visited. Is it really that bad to give money instead of gifts? I don't think I can handle any more of this. I'll probably try to go during the day on Monday and Tuesday in order to avoid as many crowds as possible.

And now, I'm going to bed. Fruitless shopping takes a lot out of girl.